Sunday 23 February 2014 19.24 EST
First published on Sunday 23 February 2014 19.24 EST

Chris Froome got his 2014 season off to an ideal start by winning the Tour of Oman for a second consecutive season.

The Tour de France winner took control of the race with victory in Saturday's stage five and safely came through Sunday's sixth and final stage which finished with a sprint finish in Muscat.

Germany's Andre Greipel of Lotto-Belisol took the stage victory from FDJ's Nacer Bouhanni with Ireland's Sam Bennett of the NetApp-Endura team coming home third.

Froome then crossed the line in the main pack to retain his red jersey with a 26-second lead over the American Tejay van Garderen in second.

Froome's former Sky team-mate Rigoberto Uran, now with Omega Pharma-Quick Step, was third, a further five seconds back.

"Everyone's spirits are really high after the race and it was clear to see we've all come here on the back of some good winter training," Froome told Team Sky's website. "To get the overall victory was a nice reward for everyone and winning the team classification was a brilliant bonus as well."

On his own form Froome added: "I still feel like I've got a lot of work to do – a lot of room for improvement – but at this stage in the season I'm where I need to be. This has been a really good experience for me as it's the start of my build-up to the Tour de France.

"I'll travel home to Monaco now and take a few days off before honing my condition again for Tirreno-Adriatico in two weeks' time."